It began as a fairly typical night at the office for umpire Bruce Dreckman on Wednesday. He worked eight innings of the Yankees-White Sox game and only had one to go before he could enjoy a post-game steam or cigar or whatever it is umpires do to unwind. Then life happened.

In this case, life took the form of an enormous moth flying into his ear. Way into his ear.

Play was halted as Dreckman sought the services of Yankees trainer Steve Donohue for help. When those efforts were unsuccessful, the umpire took control of his own destiny and yanked the foreign object out himself.

It was an astounding feat of both manliness and self-care and the veteran didn’t even seem to flinch when the true size of the moth became apparent. The same could not be said for on-lookers who had the natural “holy heck, that thing was rattling around inches from your brain” expression.